Episodic Dramas and Cinematography

In this section of my secondary research I will be looking into different TV dramas that will
help me to better understand what I want to do with my project. I will also look at
productions that come in different forms such as short films, feature length films and so on
so that I have a varied and comprehensive understanding of different art styles and cinematic
methods.

Art Style: Upstream Color (Feature length movie)

 Sepia colouration
 Desaturated colour
 Ordinary/boring settings –
These settings help to
bring more attention to
the characters or the
noise in the scene.

Symbolism is used frequently throughout

Upstream Color is a feature length indie film
produced and directed by Shane Carruth, the film
explores human nature and human experiences.
Shane Carruth the writer producer and director of
the film, who also starred as the character Jeff,
explained the meaning of the story to him “[it is]
about whether we control our identity or whether
our identity controls us.”
this movie to deliver messages
subconsciously to the audience, and are
also physically connected to the humans
by their experiences and pigs are also
shown to be compared to humans in
terms of their nature symbolically which
presents the audience with a deeper
meaning which is very engaging and
effective.
The high aperture
helps to shift the
audiences focus and
also create a hazy
dream like effect.
The Handmaids Tale (Episodic Drama)
‘The Handmaids Tale’ is about a dystopian
society that is ruled by a fundamentalist
regime that treats women as property of
the state. The series follows one woman’s
personal journey coping with being forced
into sexual servitude and being separated
from her husband and daughter.
This series is highly effective when it comes
to relating to a modern audience as it is a somewhat exaggerated reflection of
our current society and the issues real women face. This highlights the
importance of contextual relevancy and how this can increase audience
interest.
One of the themes touched on in this drama is isolation. Something that victims
of sexual abuse can relate to in their lives, this is a very hard hitting subject so
one thing that is also important to consider when addressing these subjects is
not exploiting the issues which is something that the handmaids tale does well
in telling the story of an individual and how they overcame these issues.

Aesthetics

In ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ similarly to

‘Upstream Color’ they used
desaturated colours to make their
setting look grim. This visual effect
helps to communicate the nature of
the setting they are in and amplifies
how miserable and dull they perceive
their environment to be.

Another narrative device that ‘The Handmaid Tale’ uses to keep the audience
interested are cliff-hangers, cliff-hangers are used often in episodic dramas to
persuade the audience to keep watching as they are likely to want to find out
what happens next. At the end of the first series of ‘The Handmaids Tale’ when
June is taken away in a van without explanation.
Inside number 9 (Serial Drama)
Inside number nine is a British episodic drama that tells a different story every
episode. The subject matter of each episode tends to be quite dark and the
truth of the situation the characters are in is revealed slowly throughout the
narrative.
Each episode is connected by a single element, the number nine, however every
story consists of a completely different narrative and
characters.
The writers involved in Inside Number Nine are Steve
Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, they are both also
actors in every episode of Inside Number Nine. They are
both also the writers of ‘Psychoville’, and ‘The League of
gentleman’. Each episode of the series is about 30 minutes
long.
Innocents (Serial Drama)
Innocents is a serial drama produced by ITV, the story is about David who has
served seven years in prison for murdering his wife Tara, and has
simultaneously lost his entire life – family and friends have all turned their backs
on him.
His children are in the custody of Tara’s sister Alice and her husband, and the
new family unit is living off the proceeds of David’s estate which gives them a
much more comfortable life than they were used to.
This is a dark, brooding emotional drama with many twists and turns
throughout the plot. The drama is also in the form of a continuous story, each
episode reveals new truths. The story follows the protagonist David and
explores how we deals with the persecution and isolation following his
conviction.
How I will apply this research
I would like to implement the various different elements I have observed in the
productions I have mentioned above. From Upstream Color I would like to take
inspiration from the use of symbolism. I think that the use of symbolism in
Upstream Color added a lot of depth and mystery to the plot, the use of the
pigs prompted me to question the purpose of these animals in particular and
therefore understand numerous meanings that the film was trying to convey.
In my production I would like to implement the use of symbolism by having the
female character wear black clothes when she is grieving the disappearance of
her mother, however at the end when she is more concerned with and upset
about the fallout with her father she is no longer wearing black clothes,
symbolising the momentary change of primary concern.
From The Handmaids Tale I would like to take inspiration from the colour
grading and mise-en-scene. In the Handmaids Tale the colour is slightly de-
saturated which visually communicates how the characters are feeling,
miserable and alone, I would like to do the same thing with my production. I
would like to take inspiration from the mise-en-scene in The Handmaids Tale by
using settings in a similar way. In the Handmaids Tale she is constantly seen in a
bedroom which implements a feeling of claustrophobia, I think this is quite
effective and would also work well in my drama.
In inside number 9, the themes are usually dark, often psychological subjects.
Inside number 9 often does well to show how a person’s character effects their
choices. For example, in the episode
‘Tempting Fate’ the character Keith makes
many selfish decisions due to his desperate
situation with his son. I would like to use
this same method by making my audience
aware to why the character of Anthony in
my story doesn’t care about his wife’s
disappearance.

The ITV drama ‘Innocents’ is very similar to the premise of my production so it

will be very effective for me to take inspiration from this to develop my
production, in particular I would like to consider the relationships between the
characters. How the character shift the blame and shame each other and the
main character specifically.